Name: Gheboa Zeleniski (she/her/hers)
Job Title: Support Services
Years of Service: 5 years
Worksite: Cariboo Memorial Hospital
Community: Williams Lake
Ancestral Territory: Secwépemc First Nations
Favourite Quote / Advice to live by: "Everything happens for a reason."
Born in Squamish, Gheboa (pronounced “Ja-bo-a”) Zeleniski comes from a large family of five brothers and two step-siblings. Her parents named her after an actress but changed the pronunciation slightly so her name sounded more French.
Gheboa’s Indigenous ancestors are from Saskatchewan, and include her great-grandmother, Dorothy Macquabeak Francis. Dorothy founded the first Indigenous friendship centre in Regina and was awarded the Order of Canada in 1978.
When she was a young girl, Gheboa and her parents travelled to a powwow in Broadview, Saskatchewan where her great-grandmother spent her early life. There, she was given the name “Peppermint Woman” by a North Dakota Medicine Man named Clifford Young Bear, a name that signifies strength and healing.